Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA)

Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) depicted colloquially by the name of “The Giant Egg”, is a glorious opera house located in close vicinity of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. Bringing a revolution to the designs of opera houses located all across the world, The National Center of Performing arts has brought with it a highly sophisticated and modernized style of architecture in the buildings of Beijing. The city has always been restructured itself and welcomed the creativity of today’s world, hence when Paul Andreu (the architect of the Giant Egg) came forward with the unique idea of shaping the most amazing opera house, the people related with the project just ccouldn’t say no to it. The building came into its final form, the way the world sees it today in the year 2007.

When viewed from a distance the entire shape of the building is egg shaped that is oval built of pure titanium and crystal glass, covering a total of 217500 square kilometers surrounding area underneath it. Furthermore, an artificial lake borders the structure as a whole in a sync which adds on to the wow element of the opera house. For better understanding of its design and structural layout we can divide the building under two subheads:

The Exterior:

The exterior of NCPA is by far the largest man-made dome in the world. It weighs around 4527 metric tons with the axis of dome measuring exactly 212.2 meter long. It is built up partially by titanium and the other half by white glasses, the structure folds in a way as if curtains are being drawn from one end towards the other, revealing what can be only defined as beauty personified.

Best viewed at night, when thousands of stars shimmer above in the sky, while the beautiful egg floats on the ground illuminating thousands of more light of its own. It seems like a synchronized repartee of nature’s setting with man’s creation has begun. Alongside, a reflection of both is magnified by the surrounding waters. All the main entrance to the opera house is built under these, giving the visitor the feeling of taking a stroll under water. The peace, tranquil environment, accompanied by sweet melodies of the opera house itself is an experience to die for.

The Interiors:

This consists of the three major compartments which segregate themselves into the main opera house, Theatre and concert hall giving out highly spacious rooms, able to accommodate thousands of people in one go.

Furthermore, the elevated walls and elongated sides provide the perfect echo for the sound of Opera. The ceilings of the wall from inside are designed to form molds that accentuate the sound present inside the room, creating a note that seems to take over the entire room. Also the gigantic size facilitates natural ventilation and gives away the passage for convection of heat.

Giving out specific attention to the details of the building, Paul Andreu has done a remarkable job here gifting Beijing one of the finest work of architecture, that flaunts the its contemporary style to its best!